Video devices 'may kill iPod'

Apple currently owns the music download market but the future may not just be about music, according to industry analysts.

By
Macworld staff
, | 29 Jul 04

A Newsfactor report suggests that some analysts believe that media-content players – devices that store both music and video – could eventually trump the iPod.

Gartner G2 research director Mike McGuire said: "It's a little early to call Apple's music technology a de facto standard. There are too many challengers who have yet to show us their wares – or at least the second generation of their current products or services."

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has always been adamant that he does not believe that there is a market for video content on the iPod, suggesting that nobody wants to watch a movie on a tiny screen. The competition does not agree. Microsoft will offer Napster's music library, movies provided by CinemaNow, and games and other footage from Major League Baseball (MLB) on its Portable Media Centre.

MLB senior vice president of business development George Kliavkoff predicts: "People will tune in on the go. Anything, in fact, from an audio-visual standpoint that you can get from your computer can be downloaded on a media player and watched during your commute or while you are in a doctor's waiting room."